BBC practice

 Hello, Neil!

Today we're talking about evolution. Now, teh man most people think of when talking about evolution is of course Charles Darwin. He was a bit a genius, wasn't he?

He was. Evolution means the way living things change and develop over millions of years. And a genius has great and unusal siklls or abilities in a particular subject or area. Well Charles Darwin was a clever man but I happen to know that another man actually came up with the same idea, but many years before he did. 

So how do you know that then, clever clogs- that's someone who thinks they know everything? What was his name?

Well, his name was Patrick Matthew. 

Ok, wel we're going to learn more about him on today's programe. But first can you answer this, Neil? What was Patrick Matthew's job? Was he,,?

a>  a politician, b> a church minister? c> a horticulturalist?

Well, I don't know so I'll go for the most profession that sounds most interesting- a horticulturalist, so I'll choose that one!

That's a person who studies plants. 

Ok. We'll find out later whether you are right or wrong. But let's listern now to Dr. Mike Weale talking about Patrick Matthew. Can you hear the word he uses to mean 'change- making'?

He published a brief outlife of the idea of species being able to change into other species through natural selecton- this great, transformative idea that unites us all in a single tree of life. And he did that 27 years before Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace did so. And they recognized that he did so but other people since then have simplified the strory and tended to concentrate just on Darwin. 

So, Mattew believed that evolution happened by natural selection. And natural selection describes the way that plants and animals adapt to their environment, because some individuals survive and reproduce, and others don't.

And adapt means the way our bodies or our behaviour change to suit new conditions. 

And what does Mike mean by 'a single tree of life'?

Well, the basic idea behind evolution is that all the different species- or types of living thing- have evolved from the same simple life form. Just like a family treee describes how the members of your family are related to each other, so the 'tree of life' describes how all livin things are related. 

So if this was a transformative- or change-making idea, why don't more of us know about Patrick Matthew?

A good quesion, Neil. We heard in the clip that Darwin acknowledged- or accepted- Mattew's claim to the idea. But it seems to be down to us-the general public- wanting to simplify things. 

Well, I like to keep thing ssimple, Rob. 

You don't have to tell me that. Neil, but let's hear more on why Matthew might have been passed over- or ignored-by some. Here's Dr Patricia Fara, senior tutor at Clare College Cambridge. She tells us why Darwin was so successful. And listen out for the word she uses to mean close friends and supporters.